Good evening one and all, I picked my first Italian 258 fig moments ago.  Since it started raining the other day, I moved the tree under my deck so it would not get too much water.  This is one of my largest dark figs yet.  It is a little larger than my Black Maderia figs picked weeks ago.  Interesting though this fig has a strong rich flavor.....kinda like a cross between a Black Maderia and Ronde de Bourdeaux.  It was very sweet with a lingering flavor.  I saved half for my wife to taste when she gets home.  Thanks for watching.  HOW BOUT THOSE FIGS!!!!!!  Cheers.

Dennis, have you heard of the other super tasty "I" series variants like I-376 and I-395 ? Supposedly they are better than the very nice I-258.

Hello Paully, I have not heard of the "I" series variants.  I need to look into those.  thanks

"I" is short for Italian, you can view the various number variants in the I section of the fig variety page:  http://figs4fun.com/Var_I_info.html#ITALIAN88

Been called a lot of nasty insulting slang things other than Italian growing up but never "I"

Hey look at the "I"
Yeah come a lilttle closer to get a better look at the I !!!  

To me its not short for Italian but being lazy to type out the word.  ; )

Thats right im cranky cause my fig trees are spent of there figs.

I think that Paully22 refers to the following:

http://www.crfg.org/chapters/golden_gate/Italian%20numbered%20figs.pdf

Yes - no its not Paully i ve seen these things before i dont know it kinda irks me that its just not spelled out.
It would be like in Jon variety page listing all Italian types as IT or when the Spanish Missionaries brought the Mission fig saying yea the Sp's brought the Mission figs from Spain.
To me it looks insulting but who am I .  ; )




 

The so called "I" series denotes "Italian". It seems the person  who brought these fig variants cuttings from Italy had lost the sheet where their names were recorded and hence labeled them with numbers. 

Bump

For those whom have not tasted this fig.....it does have a unique taste, texture, shape and sweetness.  There is another fig out there called Italian 88.  I'm on the hunt for that one.  I know UCD has it in quarantine.

I-258, another fig that i'm looking for that's hard to get. i heard it's similar to Black Madeira and Figo Preto. 

[QUOTE=paully22]Dennis, have you heard of the other super tasty "I" series variants like I-376 and I-395 ? Supposedly they are better than the very nice I-258.
[/QUOTE]

"I" thought Paully was being funny and listing freeway names.  Shows what "I" know   :)

yes, the "I" fig cultivars. You don't see members commenting on those. If I can find them, I buy them.

[QUOTE=snaglpus]Bump

For those whom have not tasted this fig.....it does have a unique taste, texture, shape and sweetness.  There is another fig out there called Italian 88.  I'm on the hunt for that one.  I know UCD has it in quarantine.[/QUOTE]

Boy, wish you had posted this yesterday.  I saw a very large tree of Italian 88 today and could have got you a cutting.  The description I have of it is that it's watery and not worth growing.  I won't be back there to the tree probably for another year.  I don't think it's been in quarantine for a long time but maybe Davis hasn't had it long enough to release it yet. (just guessing)

Italian 215 is good...

I will have that soon

Jennifer

HARVEY! Don't tell me that MAN!!!!!! ARGH!! My heart just dropped! Ok......I'm calm now. Ok, Jennifer keep me in mind as your tree grows. Thank you! I appreciate it.

Sorry, Dennis! :) Did you read the Italian #88 comments in the link in post #7?  I saw the tree at Prusch Park today and it is indeed vigorous but the fruit must not be impressive because they don't bother to take cuttings from it for the CRFG scion exchange.  I scored plenty of nice things, though.  The one thing still on my "wish" list came off today. :)

Thanks Harvey. That fig might do great in my climate. You never know. Well, I haven't updated my wish list but the one fig I can not find besides the Italians is Valle Negra. That's another one you don't hear about. I need to start looking around for it. I'm willing to pay for it too.

[QUOTE=snaglpus]HARVEY! Don't tell me that MAN!!!!!! ARGH!! My heart just dropped!

Ok......I'm calm now. Ok, Jennifer keep me in mind as your tree grows. Thank you! I appreciate it.

[/QUOTE]

Of course Dennis- or I might just give IT-215 to you freely. Keep in touch okay

By the way, Celeste JR is starting to wake :-)

Jennifer

Dennis, I was with you but bought Valle Negra from George on eBay.  Paid way too much, but I had to have it. :)

Ok. Thanks Jennifer. You know Havey, I THINK I have 2 large Valle Negra fig trees. I won't know until this summer. I think these trees were miss labeled.....time will tell.

Dennis, can you please post a photo of your Italian 258 leaves? Thanks!

Havey!!! What's up man???? Sorry I missed your question on my Italian 258. I got figs from my tree this year, none last year. We are smack dead in Fall in Charlotte. Most of my trees have dropped their leaves including I258. My tree only has 3 or 4 leaves. The leaves on my tree are very different from most figs. The leaves are wide and fat. Here's a few pics. [URL=http://s605.photobucket.com/user/snaglpus/media/image-44.jpg.html][IMG]http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt134/snaglpus/image-44.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s605.photobucket.com/user/snaglpus/media/image-45.jpg.html][IMG]http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt134/snaglpus/image-45.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s605.photobucket.com/user/snaglpus/media/image-46.jpg.html][IMG]http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt134/snaglpus/image-46.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Nice looking fig Dennis I have a young start of this one. Thinking Martin is a bit too sensitive, I is perfectly fine way to denote Italian, in my mind, but what do I know. 

BLB- LOL

I - 258  - lol
sounds to me like an Interstate such as

I-290
I-294  Here in Illinois


Course one could take    I-258 into I-95  down to Cape Canaveral depending on where your coming from and bring some
Italian desserts along the way instead of I-Desserts .
 
Borrowing a line from Dennis
How Bout Them Figs !

Yeah!!! How bout those figs!!!! I love my I258. It's a rare one and yes...sensitive. I'm going to have to wrap it this year, otherwise our 20 degree temps will burn it and it will struggle waking up. The same goes for my Martin's Unknown. These 3 are very similar, Martin's Unknown, Weeping fig, and Sal's Corleone. All 3 split when it rains. All 3 ripe figs look the same too. I have all 3 growing in my orchard. Martin's Unknown is the only one that dies to the grown every year and grows back.

Very tasty fig, thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

[quote=Dennis] I haven't updated my wish list but the one fig I can not find besides the Italians is Valle Negra.[/quote]
Dennis, if you're still looking for Valle Negra, you can buy cuttings from Maggie (google "mediterranean flora garden" and you'll find her site).  She sells cuttings of that variety, fairly reasonable price as I recall.  But she takes reservations in advance for fall cuttings... I don't know if she's sold out for this year yet or not.  (I can't remember, maybe I sent you an email about this back in January when you posted that you were looking for that one?).  Anyway, if you're still looking for Valle Negra, that's someone reputable who sells cuttings of it.  I've had some on order since last winter.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

@Dennis
>>> There is another fig out there called Italian 88.  I'm on the hunt for that one.
I just happen to have a small rooted Italian 88 if you still want it.
BTW, I think that my Valle Negra is kaput.

@Harvey
Tell the story about the Italian 253...

I do have a small rooted Italian 253 and Italian 358 too; if anybody wants them.
All were short cutting remnants I got from Jon.
The pic below shows them, left to right, Italian 88, 253 and 358 little plants.

Thanks for posting the photos, Dennis (finally! lol).  Your leaves look similar to what's on Jon's variety list but it's clearer from yours to see that what I bought is not correct.  Mine have deeply lobed leaves. :(

George, the jury is still out on Italian 253.  There is a chance that it is actually Italian 258 that someone misread a tag and then labeled 253.  I need to go back out into my orchard now and compare my 253 to Dennis's leaves.  Prusch Park is the only place that has a tree marked on their map as 253 and has been the source for cuttings for others but there is no 253 on the list of Italian varieties so it is probably a mix-up of some sort.  We still need to confirm with Todd Kennedy because I don't know if the list of Italian varieties put out by the Golden Gate chapter of CRFG is complete.  I'll have more time to work on this detective stuff once chestnut season is over.

Unless I see someone come up with some good results from Italian 88, I would not bother unless I just wanted it for rootstock.  It is the most vigorous fig tree at Prusch Park and it produces a lot of very bland figs that would convince everyone that Martin is right about sticking with dark figs. ;)  There must have been some reason Todd Kennedy decided to import it, but neither I or "posturedoc" saw even a hint of such evidence when we tried it a month ago.

Just took some photos.  My Italian 253 looks closer to your leaves (except mine are still green! lol) than does my supposed Italian 258.

253 started beginning of year, planted a couple of months ago:





The supposed Italian 258 I bought:

@geroge George, I'll take the Italian 253 and Italian 358. I'll send you an email. Just quote your price plus shipping. Thanks ! @harvey, your I258 isn't i258. It might be Valle Negra! Mike, I'll ping Maggie. Thanks!

All my 3 (free) Italian.nnn little fig starters have been spoken for (in good hands).
The good news for me - I need not pot-up and winter them...

Thought I'd confirm Harvey's assessment of I-88: not worth the space it takes up. If there is a worse fig at Prusch, I'd be very surprised (not all had ripe figs when we visited a few weeks ago). I can't imagine it's one of those figs that is magically better in different growing conditions.

Like Harvey, I'm working on the I 253 mystery. I hope to have something to report sometime soon.

Dennis and Harvey -- I agree with Dennis' suggestion that the one in Harvey's photo labeled "supposed Italian 258" might actually be Valle Negra.  The leaves look close.  (There are others that it could be as well... for example I have an Aubique Petite that made leaves just like that last year, though this year they look like more typical Aubique Petite leaves.  Leaves are just so variable you can't really conclude based on leaves).  Anyway, those leaves look like possible Valle Negra to me.

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

Poor Italian 88 fig!!!

Desc: "IT 88 - Yellow, very vigorous. Patrick Schafer(PS) says these are worthless, buggy & watery"

I do wonder where and in what local micro-climate it did blossom and how/why...